Live updates: George Floyd’s funeral service held in Houston

A video tribute to George Floyd and the movement sparked by his death was shown at his funeral service on Tuesday. Those gathered at the church cheered as clips and photos of Floyd throughout his life were displayed. The video also included photos from protests that have gripped the nation, and world, in the wake of Floyd’s death.

The moving video was accompanied by the song “My World Needs You” by American gospel singer Kirk Franklin.  

The mourners at George Floyd’s private funeral in Houston, the city where Floyd grew up, include rapper Trae tha Truth, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.

Turner brought the crowd to its feet when he announced at the service that he will sign an executive order banning chokeholds in the city. 

“In this city, you have to give a warning before you shoot,” Turner said. “In this city you have a duty to intervene.”

The services have drawn the families of other black victims whose names have become part of the debate over race and justice –among them, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin. 

Joe Biden spoke at George Floyd’s memorial service Tuesday via video. Having lost several close family members himself, Biden said he and his wife Jill “know the pain” in the hearts of Floyd’s family. 

“Unlike most you must grieve in public, that is a burden,” Biden said, noting that he spoke to Floyd’s family before the ceremony about his shared experience of grieving in the public eye.

He also spoke directly to Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter Gianna in the video, saying: “You’re so brave, daddy’s looking down and he’s so proud of you.”

“I know you have a lot of questions… no child should have to ask questions that black children have had to ask for generations,” he said.

Biden called for the end of the “systemic abuse that plagues American life,” and said that getting justice for Floyd’s death is only the beginning of rectifying that abuse. 

While the funeral service for George Floyd on Tuesday was private, at least 50 people gathered outside the Fountain of Praise church to pay their respects. Some held signs with messages including “Black Lives Matter” and “Together because of George Floyd.”

“There’s a real big change going on and everybody, especially black, right now should be a part of that,” said Kersey Biagase, who traveled more than three hours from Port Barre, Louisiana, with his girlfriend, Brandi Pickney.

The couple wore matching T-shirts she designed, printed with Floyd’s name and “I Can’t Breathe,” the words he uttered before his death.

Several police officers from Texas Southern University stood guard at the sanctuary entrance, wearing face masks printed with Floyd’s dying words. The historically black school is next to the Houston housing project where Floyd grew up. 

Mourners began to say their final goodbyes to George Floyd on Tuesday as his casket was closed in Houston, Texas. He was previously memorialized in Minneapolis, where he was killed, and North Carolina, where he was born.   

Floyd’s casket was left open for mourners, a nod to Emmett Till, a black 14-year-old who was brutally murdered in 1955. Till’s casket was left open at the request of his mother, so that people could see what was done to her son.

Pictures showed people pausing at Floyd’s casket in the Fountain of Praise church as his funeral service started. 

Hundreds of people showed up to the service with no expectation of getting inside. Instead they showed their support and solidarity outside the church. A large crowd is also expected to stand along the funeral procession route. 

The celebration began with a reminder that, while Floyd’s death sparked a national movement against racism and police violence, in life he was a beloved father, brother and friend.

“We may weep, we may mourn… but we will find hope,” one speaker said.

George Floyd’s funeral service is now underway in Houston. Among those in attendance is Rev. Al Sharpton, who is expected to deliver Floyd’s eulogy.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday that New York City will paint “Black Lives Matter” on prominent streets in all five boroughs.

The message will be painted first on a street near City Hall, and then other locations in other boroughs in the days to come, the mayor said, CBS New York reports.

“A proposal put on the table was to name streets in each borough and to paint the words on the streets of this city. In each borough, at a crucial location,” de Blasio said. “What will be clear in the street name and on the streets of our city is that message that now our city must fully, fully, deeply feel – and this nation must as well – that Black Lives Matter.”

The move comes after the mayor of Washington D.C. had “Black Lives Matter” painted on a street in huge letters near the White House.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issued a proclamation Tuesday asking Minnesotans to hold a moment of silence as George Floyd’s funeral service begins in Texas.

“The world watched in horror as George Floyd’s humanity was taken away from him,” Walz’s proclamation says. “We will not wake up one day and have the disease of systemic racism cured. We must do everything in our power to come together to deconstruct generations of systemic racism in our state so that every Minnesotan – black, indigenous, brown, or white – can be safe and thrive.”

The governor is asking that the moment of silence start at 11 a.m. local time (12 p.m. ET), when Floyd’s funeral is scheduled to start, and last for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. 

Read more from CBS Minnesota

An NYPD officer seen on video shoving a protester last month in Brooklyn has been charged with assault, criminal mischief, harassment and menacing. CBS New York reports Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced the charges against Officer Vincent D’Andraia on Tuesday.

“I fully support the long-held American tradition of non-violent protest. As District Attorney I cannot tolerate the use of excessive force against anyone exercising this Constitutionally guaranteed right,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “This is especially true of those who are sworn to protect us and uphold the law. I am deeply troubled by this unnecessary assault. We will now seek to hold this defendant accountable.”

Video showed D’Andraia push 20-year-old Dounya Zayer during a demonstration on May 29. Zayer said the officer knocked her phone out of her hand and when she put her arms up to protect herself, he allegedly cursed at her, called her a derogatory term and shoved her.

She said she suffered a seizure and a concussion.

Zayer also said a commanding officer saw what happened and didn’t intervene.

The NYPD says D’Andraia has been with the department for about five years and remains suspended without pay.

George Floyd will be laid to rest on Tuesday at a cemetery in Pearland, Texas, following his funeral.

CBS affiliate KHOU reports his body is expected to arrive there around 1 p.m., and that he will be in a horse-drawn carriage for the last mile of the funeral procession.

“The public is certainly welcome to pay respects at public locations on the route, including on sidewalks,” the city said. “Barricades are being placed along the procession route on Cullen where the horse drawn carriage will travel to prevent vehicular access and pedestrian access to the roadway. These barricades will help keep visitors safe and help maintain traffic safety.”

“Attendees are requested to stay behind the barricades to provide a safe travel location for the procession and to ensure safety of Mr. Floyd’s family,” it said. “With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, attendees are also encouraged to wear masks and maintain social distancing from those not known to them as much as possible.”

Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old West African immigrant, was shot and killed in 1999 when New York City police officers fired 41 times outside his apartment building. Since the recent news of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, his mother, Kadiatou Diallo, told “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King she felt like she was reliving what happened to her son all over again. 

“As the mother of Amadou Diallo, having to suffer my loss on February 4, 1999, my wound was open again,” she said.

Diallo became an activist in the years since Amadou’s death, working to improve relations between police and the community. She said George Floyd’s heartbreaking last minutes of life, in which he repeatedly said “I can’t breathe” and begged for his own mother, struck a chord with her. 

“Every mother heard him,” when Floyd cried out for her, she said. “We heard George Floyd. We hear him.” 

Read more here. 

When protests for George Floyd began to organize in Denver, demonstrators were met with force by Denver police officers. Tactics they used initially were toned down after several days, but not without bringing the department under fire itself first, CBS Denver reports. 

“Any time an excessive crowd control measure like tear gas and rubber bullets and flash bang grenades and the like, anytime they are used against Denver citizens by Denver police I think it’s incumbent on city council to dig in,” councilman Paul Kashmann said.

Kashmann chairs the safety committee of the Denver City Council, and with the full support of his fellow council members is calling for an investigation by the Office of Independent Monitor.

“Take a look. Does Denver have the correct use of force policy in place? And if they do, was it properly implemented during the demonstrations?” he asked.

The request comes as complaints against DPD for excessive force continue to build through emails, calls and even directly from the council floor. 

According to a spokesperson for the police department, Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen and Executive Director of Public Safety Murphy Robinson acknowledge and support calls to review the use of force policy from Denver City Council.

San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia announced crowd control policy changes in a memo to his officers Monday, more than a week after violent clashes between his police force and protesters. The changes include restrictions on the use of projectiles such as rubber bullets to disperse crowds, CBS SF Bay Area reports. 

The department has been accused of excessive force and misconduct after complaints were filed, injuries were reported and cell phone videos surfaced of violent confrontations.

“Effective immediately in crowd control situations … Projectile Impact Weapons will only be used in situations where a person is actively attacking an officer or another person or when an armed agitator poses a threat to officers or other peaceful protesters,” Garcia wrote in his memo.

He also said, “The current department policy prohibits the use of chokeholds … however, given recent events, we are updating policy language to clearly and expressly prohibit chokeholds using any body part to apply pressure to the neck including the knee.”

Garcia ended the memo voicing his support to prohibit officers fired for gross misconduct from being hired at other departments.

George Floyd, who was 46 when he was killed, will be laid to rest on Tuesday next to his mother. His funeral in Houston will be private.

Floyd’s death sparked international protests and drew new attention to the treatment of African Americans in the U.S. by police and the criminal justice system. In the past two weeks, sweeping and previously unthinkable things have taken place: Confederate statues have been toppled, police departments around America have rethought the way they patrol minority neighborhoods, legislatures have debated use-of-force policies, and white, black and brown people have had uncomfortable, sometimes heated, discussions about race in a nation that is supposed to ensure equal opportunity for all. 

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden met with George Floyd’s family in Houston Monday, family attorney Benjamin Crump tweeted. Crump said Biden “listened, heard their pain, and shared in their woe. That compassion meant the world to this grieving family.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday paid his respects along with hundreds of other people mourning the death of George Floyd at a church in Houston, where Floyd grew up. The Republican governor stood by Floyd’s body in a gold-colored casket at the Fountain of Praise church Monday for about 15 seconds, then lowered his head with his hands folded for several seconds more.

Abbott told reporters outside the church that he will include Floyd’s family in discussions about police reform and any related legislation.

“George Floyd is going to change the arc of the future of the United States. George Floyd has not died in vain. His life will be a living legacy about the way that America and Texas responds to this tragedy,” Abbott said.

Abbott said he planned to meet privately with Floyd’s family and present them with a Texas flag that was flown over the state Capitol in Floyd’s honor. The governor wore a striped crimson and gold tie, which he said was in honor of Floyd as those are the colors of Floyd’s high school.